Little new year
The 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month, also known as "off-year", is the day when people worship the kitchen. The folk song "Twenty-three, Melon Stick" refers to the sacrificial stove on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month every year. There is a saying that "officials, three people, four boatmen and five", that is, the government holds sacrifices on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, ordinary people hold them on the 24th, and government boats hold them on the 25th. Off-year is the beginning and foreshadowing of the whole Spring Festival celebration, and there are two main activities: sweeping the New Year and offering sacrifices to stoves. In addition, there is the custom of eating stove candy. In some places, we also eat fire, sugar cakes, oil cakes and tofu soup.
Sacrifice to the kitchen god
Sacrificing stoves is a very popular custom in China. In the past, almost every kitchen had a kitchen god. People call this god "the Bodhisattva who commands life" or "the stove commands life". It is said that he is the "Nine-day East Chef Commanding the Kitchen Palace" sealed by the Jade Emperor, who is responsible for managing the kitchen fires of various families and is worshipped as the patron saint of the family. Kitchen shrines are mostly located in the north or east of the kitchen, with the idol of Kitchen God in the middle. The same is true of people who don't have a chef.
Some put the idol directly on the wall. Some gods only draw a kitchen god, while others have two men and women. The goddess is called "Grandma Chef". The sacrificial furnace on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is closely related to the New Year in China. Because, a week later, on New Year's Eve, Kitchen God came to the world with the good and bad fortune that the family should get. Kitchen God is considered to guide the gods in the sky. Other gods have ascended to heaven after the Chinese New Year, and only Kitchen God will stay in other people's kitchens for a long time. The ceremony of welcoming God is called "receiving God", and the kitchen god is called "receiving kitchen". Generally, it is New Year's Eve to pick up the kitchen, and the ceremony is much simpler. At that time, just put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche.
As the saying goes, "Men don't Yue Bai, women don't sacrifice to the kitchen". In some places, women don't sacrifice stoves. It is said that the kitchen god looks like a small white face and is afraid of women offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove, which is "suspected of men and women." People pay attention to eating jiaozi on the Festival of Sacrificing Kitchen, which means "Look at the windward side of jiaozi". Eat more cakes and buckwheat noodles in mountainous areas. In southeastern Shanxi, it is popular to eat fried jade.
According to the custom of rice, the folk proverb says, "Twenty-three, don't eat fried food, pour a pot on New Year's Eve." People like to stick fried corn together with maltose and freeze it into pieces, which tastes crisp and sweet.
crispy noodles
After the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, every household should steam steamed bread. Generally speaking, it can be divided into two types: worshipping God and visiting relatives. The former is solemn, while the latter is gorgeous. Especially to make a jujube hill for Kitchen God. "A steamed bread, neighbors to help". This is often a great opportunity for folk women to show their dexterity. Steamed bread is a handicraft.
write Spring Festival couplets
After the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, every household will write Spring Festival couplets. People pay attention to it, and God will stick it, and doors will stick it, and things will stick it, so Spring Festival couplets have the largest number and the most complete content. The couplets in front of the statues are particularly particular, and they are mostly words of admiration and blessing. Vulgar gods are the gods of heaven and earth. "Heaven's grace is as deep as the sea, and earth's virtue is as heavy as mountains"; The land god "white jade is born in the soil, and gold is born in the ground"; God of wealth "God of wealth in heaven, God of wealth on earth"; Jing Shenlian "The well can pass through the four seas, and the home can pass through the three rivers". The Spring Festival couplets in granaries and barns all express warm congratulations and hopes, such as "five crops are abundant and six livestock are prosperous"; "The rice noodles are as thick as mountains and the oil and salt are deep"; "Nanshan cattle are like tigers, Beihai Ma Rulong"; "Big sheep flourish every year, and little sheep increase every month" and so on. There are also some single couplets, such as "Looking up to see happiness" in each room, "Going out to see happiness" across the door, "Prosperity is soaring to the sky" on the fire, "The courtyard is full of gold" on the tree, and "Deep-rooted foliage" on the stone mill. The couplets on the gate are the facade of a family, which are particularly exquisite, lyrical or picturesque, rich in content and witty.
Eat stove candy
Kitchen sugar is a kind of maltose, which is very sticky. The candy that is drawn into a long strip is called "Guandong Sugar", and the candy that is drawn into a flat circle is called "honeydew melon". When it is put outside in winter, because of the cold weather, the honeydew melon is solidified firmly, and there are some tiny bubbles in it, which tastes crisp and sweet and has a special flavor. The real kwantung candy is too hard to break. Be sure to split it with a kitchen knife when eating. The material is very heavy and fine. The taste is slightly sour, there is no honeycomb in the middle, each piece weighs one or two, two or four, and the price is relatively expensive. Sugar, sesame sugar and non-sesame sugar. Sugar is made into melon shape or north melon shape. The center is empty and the skin thickness is less than five points. Although the size is different, the transaction is still calculated by weight. The big honeydew melon weighs one or two Jin, but few people buy it as a cover.
sweep the dust
The folk proverb says, "On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, dust and sweep the house". After the Stove Festival, preparations for the Chinese New Year officially began. Dust removal is year-end cleaning, which is called "house cleaning" in the north and "dust removal" in the south. It is a traditional habit of our people to sweep the dust before the Spring Festival. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of electrical appliances, remove and wash bedding curtains, sweep six yards, dust cobwebs and dredge culverts in open channels. North and south of the great river, everywhere is filled with the atmosphere of being willing to engage in hygiene and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.
According to ancient records, there was a habit of year-end cleaning in ancient times. The custom of "sweeping the house with dust on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month" has a long history. According to "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the Yao and Shun era. According to the folk saying, because of the homonym of "dust" and "Chen", sweeping dust in the Spring Festival means "getting rid of the old and not being new", and its original intention is to sweep away all "unlucky" and "unlucky". Volume 12 of Ting Anne Lu records: "La will be disabled, so it is advisable to choose a constitutional book to sweep the sun and go to court."
Dirty. Or 23rd, 24th and 27th, commonly known as' dust'. "On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, I thoroughly cleaned the house inside and out. It can be seen that this custom has entrusted people with the desire to break the old and create new ones, and it is also the traditional virtue of the Chinese nation to pay attention to hygiene and prevent diseases in winter accumulated in the long history.
Jieyu yellow
According to the ancient custom, when the Kitchen God goes to heaven, the Jade Emperor will personally descend to earth on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month to investigate the good and evil on earth and decide the fortunes of the coming year. Therefore, every household offered his blessing, calling it "Meeting the Jade Emperor". On this day, we should be careful in our daily life and words, strive for good performance, win the favor of the Jade Emperor and bring good luck for the coming year.